Owner: Onion Peels URL:http://blueonionsoftware.com Join Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:33:26 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: .NET, Technology, Life, Whatever Site statistics:Click here
Use Solution Folders 2008-04-18 08:06:55 In reading Scott Hanselman's blog this morning, I ran across an interesting tid bit. ASIDE: Not enough people use "SolutionFolders
" in Visual Studio. Seriously, folks, just right-click and "Add | New Solution Folder," start dragging things around and bask in the tidiness He's referring to how "tidy" the xUnit.NET code he's reviewing here. It's a great point however. I'm currently working on a project that has 71 project files in it. Way too many in mind opinion. And the reason I suspect is that most developers don't know (or don't care) that they can organize their solutions and projects into folders. Projects often get used organize code but it's an expensive proposition. It takes much longer to load solutions with lots of projects. Take the same number of files and put them in o
Stopwatch Gadget Updated 2008-04-19 06:13:32 The Vista Stopwatch gadget I wrote about earlier has been updated with a new color scheme that is higher contrast. It's also vertically smaller to take up less space. Same easy functionality, just prettier. You can get it from the downloads page.
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How to keep bees, birds and varmints out of play structures 2008-04-23 10:26:01 This is one of those Lifehacker type of tips my wife discovered a few years ago. Problem, we have a play house I built for our kids a few years back that attracts bees, nesting birds and other pests. We would have to clean out the structure every few days to keep the pests from taking over. The solution to problem was stunningly simple. Spray the interior of the structure with OdoBan. OdoBan is a sanitizer designed to eliminate odors. It has a eucalyptus scent. Mix some up in a spray bottle, lightly spray the interior services and no more pests. It's like magic. And the kids are no longer afraid to enter the play structure for fear of bees. I suspect this would work with other cleaners like Pinesol but OdoBan is the only one we've used. You can get OdoBan at Sam's Club.
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Links 2008-04-22 2008-04-22 08:52:21 WIX - Design flash web sites with drag and drop ease. A little too cute for my tastes but some of the templates do look cool. Currently in beta by invite only. Applied and was accepted in about two days. Open ID - OpenID is a free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet. You can host it yourself or use a provider. I used Verisign's PIP service because I'm thinking Verisign will be around for a while. twitterfeed - Update twitter with entries from your blog. Requires an Open ID to login. Redmond Path - Joy, joy, joy! Makes editing your system and user paths a breeze. Free, stand alone program. Highly recommended. Jing Project - The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.
Home Theater PC Recommendations 2008-04-27 08:58:44 Jeff Attwood recently blogged about how inexpensive it was for him to build a new Home Theater
PC (HTPC) based on Vista's Windows Media Center. As readers of this blog well know, I'm a Vista fan and regularly use the Windows Media Center on my laptop. I have to agree with Jeff that WMC is one of best apps Microsoft has ever produced. So now I'm thinking of putting together my own HTPC system. I'm not into hardware hacking like Jeff but I have put a few computers together over the years. I don't find it a particularly interesting topic. I suppose I'm a bit more pedestrian when it comes to gadgets. Software, that's a different story, but hardware I'm pretty much plug and play when I can get away with it. My current setup is a Sony Trinitron 32 incher (the Sony tube is darn nice). Direct
Software Architecture - why does it sometimes fall short? 2008-04-28 10:17:32 I'm asking the question because more and more my responsibilities are shifting into the area of architecture. As a developer, I've always eyed architects with a bit of suspicion. After all, they don't program so how much do they really know? And do they really have to live the consequences of their designs the way developers do? I sometimes wonder. Still, there is a need for an over-arching view of the subsystems and how they work. I guess what bugs me about architecture is that it's often done up front and then left to rot as the project develops. And why is this? I think it comes down to enforcement. Unlike code where you can apply static analysis, write unit tests and do code reviews to verify results, architecture tends be a bit more slippery. How often do you hear in a code review th Read more:Software
, Architecture
C# 2.0 ?? Operator 2008-04-29 07:52:38 I'm surprised how many of my colleagues don't know about this little operator. Termed the null coalescing operator, it returns the left hand operand if not null, else the right hand operand. It makes for handy shortcuts in code and I think actually improves the readability when used judiciously. Here's an example: Console.WriteLine(name ?? "Unspecified");
Seems self-explanatory and it's fewer keystrokes to boot. It's also nice for lazy evaluation type statements:
public User TheUser
{
get { return theUser ?? (theUser = new User()); }
}
Phil Haack postulates that this operator is thread safe based on an examination of IL. Don't know if that is true since I'm no IL expert either but since the left hand side is evaluated only once, there's a strong indication that it is.
There' Read more:Operator
Commonly Botched Interview Questions 2008-04-30 09:50:56 Lately, I've had to do a some interviewing for new positions that have opened
up here. My interview style is to not ask too many questions and to try and get
the candidate to talk about themselves. Still, there a few technical questions I
ask just to make sure the basics are understood. It's surprising how candidates
with many years of experience can't answer the following:
Define Inheritance - I think most candidates have a notion of what this is
but manage to stumble around for 5 minutes or more answering it. What's strange
is that it can be described pretty much in one sentence. Answer: Defining
new classes from existing classes.Define Polymorphism - I would love it if a candidate asked "Ad-hoc or
Parametric?" But they never do. Again, I usually get a 5 minute answer that s Read more:Botched
Using Attributes to Exclude Code from Coverage in TestDriven.Net 2008-05-01 19:58:35 There are times when you don't want your coverage level penalized for code not covered. Often this occurs with code that is produced from a code generator. Since TestDriven.Net invokes NCover with the //ea Coverage
ExcludeAttribute switch, it's relatively easy remove code from the coverage statistics. First, define the CoverageExclude attribute. Make sure to declare it outside of any namespace scope (I made this mistake and struggled for 10 minutes to figure out why it didn't work). It's best to define the attribute in your non-test code to reduce couplings between assemblies. The attribute requires no methods beyond the default constructor. public class CoverageExcludeAttribute : System.Attribute { }
Then decorate the modules, classes, methods and propertes you want to exclude.
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Links - 2008-05-04 2008-05-04 07:19:43 Seems like there is a lot more to read as of late on the Web. Either that or I'm just bored. StuffSafe - Online home inventory. I made the mistake of using Microsoft Money's home inventory years ago. Don't do the same. Tip: Silence Window's Command Line Error Beep - This is one of those priceless little tips I should of thought of. XS EULA Generator - Need a quick end user license agreement (EULA)? This is the way to go. Google Recipe Search - In beta. Very cool. The Vulcan Project - Maps of pollution hotspots by NASA. Very interesting... ThreeSharp Library for Amazon S3 - Open source project in C# for interacting with Amazon's very cool S3 storage service. NeoLoad - Performance testing for Web applications. Looks interesting. Ajaxload - Ajax loading gif generator. There are a lot
C#'s Unsung Hero 2008-05-07 08:56:04 I was updating some legacy Windows C++ code last night and the pain of using it hit me like a ton of bricks. In particular, the string handling was a nightmare. Here are all the ways I found strings used in this program: CString Bse_String (private class) OLESTR LPCTSTR LPSTR wchar_t (include const and pointer variants) TCHAR (include const and pointer variants) char (include const and pointer variants) STL string BSTR _bstr_t CSimpleStringT What a mess. And worse still, this only address the width of the characters, not the encoding. Now admittedly, some of macro types overlap but still if you haven't used this stuff in a while, it is hard to remember what maps to what. And then there are all the _t variants for the library methods. For instance, _t
DRM Free Music at Amazon 2008-05-08 08:25:20 Jeff Atwood, the author of the fabulous Coding Horror blog, has a great write up about buying DRM (Digital Rights Management) free software from Amazon
.com. I never bought music from ITunes simply because of the DRM issues. However, like Jeff, I vote with my wallet and buy music from Amazon.com precisely because it is DRM free. What cracked me up the most however was some of the comments he makes along the way. You'll get no argument from me that the RIAA and the major record labels are as close as you can get to pure evil while not actively killing small children, puppies, and kittens. Well, not in public, anyway. I'm sure they'd be charging us a trillion dollars per song -- no, per byte of the song -- if they could get away with it. I like good writing and I like it even better whe Read more:Music
Programming WCF Services 2008-05-08 06:33:30 My two favorite .Net programming books just happen to be by the same author - Juval Lowy. The first book, "Programming
.NET Components", is a well worn companion that often is not on my desk because I loan it out so often. And now, "Programming WCF Services
" occupies the #2 slot of .Net book favorites. Lowy's writing style is terse, concise and yet somehow compelling. I find myself often rereading chapters after working through some programming issue related to the subject matter. It's always interesting to me how I can reread a chapter a few weeks or months later and find fresh insights. There's a certain layering of knowledge that reveals itself in subsequent readings that's hard to explain. Lowy's treatment of the subject matter is encyclopedic with numerous examples and countless in
Links 2008-05-09 2008-05-09 08:11:52 I'm moving like cold molasses this morning with this head cold. Still, the blog must go on. Here's some stuff I found interesting this week when I didn't have a head cold. Programmers Don't Read Books -- But You Should - Jeff Atwood's, "Coding Horror" is always a great read. I've read most of the books he recommends here. Better Pull Quotes: Don’t Repeat Markup - CSS Tricks contains some very useful code, like this gem. A Great Visual Studio Add-on You Must Have - I've used power commands for a while now. Seamless and useful. K-Meleon: It's like Firefox, without the bloat - It's a little to light for my tastes but who knows, maybe you'll like it. Five command line tools to detect Windows hacks - Command line tools for the discriminating administrator. LyX – The Document Processor
Friday Links 2008-05-16 09:07:14 Links I found interesting this week. Understanding IIS7 Request Restrictions on Windows Vista - Just how many concurrent requests does IIS7 allow? Wicked Code: Silverlight Page Turning Made Simple - Great introduction to the world of Silverlight. Cool page turning demo. Bright Focus - Firefox add on that highlights buttons, links and textboxes similar to what Safari does. 11 More Visual Studio Read more:Friday
Folder View Adds Recently Used Folders to Windows Explorer 2008-05-20 11:03:13 Ever navigate to a folder deep in the hierarchy and then close WindowsExplorer
only to realize you forgot to do something and need to go back? I do it all the time and it annoys the hell out of me. So much so, that I started to write an application that would keep track of the last couple of folders accessed in Windows Explorer
so I could quickly navigate back to them. It's not a trivial process Read more:Folder
, Folders
Nice Review of FreeSnap 2008-05-21 18:33:59 The folks over at Freewaregenius did a nice review of my FreeSnap program. ... this is one situation where the adage "less is more" holds true and I prefer FreeSnap. A nice program overall. Gosh, makes me feel all warm inside.
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Friday Links #2 2008-05-23 08:33:11 Elevator Quickly Disables UAC for Specific Programs - You can disable the UAC for specific applications using the registry or you can use this handy-dandy alternative which is much easier. Installation is fussy so read the directions carefully. Find the Subscriber Count of a FeedBurner RSS Feed on a Given Day - From Digital Inspiration. HP Smart Web Printing enables simple, predictable web page Read more:Friday
Business Opportunity 2008-05-24 13:52:01 Quick question: If the money was right and it didn't interfere with your current schedule, would you be interested in a business opportunity? Email me at mike@blueonionsoftware.com for details.
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Desk Drive Version 1.1 Released 2008-05-27 17:05:52 There were a couple of positive articles on some popular web sites about Desk Drive posted last week. As a result, I've received a ton of email requesting features, fixes, etc. Version 1.1 adds one new feature and removes another. The new feature let's you exclude any drive by name. Several people reported issues with having to enable "Fixed" drives to see their removable drives. This sounds lik
How to Selectively Hide Tray Icons 2008-05-29 10:24:43 I've had a number of requests to add a feature to Desk Drive that hides the tray icon. Turns out, you already have the ability to do this from the task bar. Here's how. Right-click on the "Start" button on the task bar Select the Taskbar tab Check the "Hide inactive icons" checkbox Click the customize button to the right of the checkbox Select Desk Drive in the list Read more:Icons
Desk Drive Memory Reduced? 2008-05-28 17:23:33 I'm not sure why but Version 1.1 of Desk Drive uses 5 MB as compared to 18 MB for Version 1.0. Maybe it's the new compiler in Visual Studio 2008? The code hardly changed between version 1.0 and 1.1 so I'm a bit perplexed because similar programs I've written use 9 - 12 MB. Will wonders never cease? The memory column is the number of private bytes which is a more accurate measure of what the pro Read more:Memory
The Tooth Fairy Note 2008-05-28 08:39:47 My daughter left this note for the tooth fairy the other night. Dear Tooth
Fairy, I've been very good. Could you please leave me two dollars instead of one? Please. Your very best friend, Rachel My wife and I laughed until we cried.
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Friday Links #3 2008-05-30 13:35:50 BugWiki = Bug tracking made easy - I'm using it for my projects. Easy and to the point. Free for single developers. UltimateDefrag Freeware Edition 1.72 - I'm a sucker for cool graphics in defrag programs. Works well on XP and Vista. Microsoft Source Analysis - Also known as StyleCop. Analyzes C# code for style rules violations. The default rule set is a bit too strict for my tastes. Web 3.0 Read more:Friday
How do you say Thank You? 2008-06-02 11:05:58 A lot of people (as in 99%) come to this site, consume the content, download the software and leave. I've always been a little annoyed by this behavior. If someone handed you a 5 dollar bill, wouldn't you say Thank
You? The other day I spotted a free workbench top (a very nice one at that) on a forum in my local area. I emailed the guy and we agreed on a pickup time. When I arrived, he helped me
Calculator Sidebar Gadget Released 2008-06-01 19:15:08 Yes, just what the world needs, another calculator gadget! Except this is actually a useful and useable calculator gadget. You don't get pretty buttons or bubble gum skins. Instead, you get a calculator that evaluates expressions and remembers what you enter for later use. Like my Stopwatch gadget, it's no frills and to the point. Here's a screen shot. Like I said, not the most exciting interf Read more:Calculator
, Sidebar
, Gadget
Calculator Gadget Reviewed 2008-06-03 08:33:50 Well, my latest little Vista gadget has received two reviews so far. One guy hated it and gave me one star rating. Another guy loved it and gave me a 5 start rating. Hey, I'm at 3 stars! Pretty funny. The 5 star guy did leave a five star comment as well. Simple Perfection This handy gadget was just the right size to fit in that little space left between all the other gadgets crammed onto on Read more:Gadget
, Calculator
Super Cool Video Phone 2008-06-04 19:45:19 Our new video phone just arrived today. This little baby lets callers see each other. It uses a broadband Internet connection (VOIP). If the other caller only has a regular phone, you can still use voice. I literally plugged the power in, attached it to my Internet connection and started dialing (you dial and use it just like a regular phone). The VOIP provider has optimized their network for Read more:Super
Detect Strong Named Assemblies in .NET 2008-06-04 10:44:38 Seems like I get asked at least once a week how to determine if an assembly is strongly named. To detect if an assembly is strongly named in .NET use the SN.exe tool included with Visual Studio and the .NET SDK. sn -T assembly To determine if the assembly is targeted for IL (any cpu), 32 bit or 64 bit corflags assembly
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Friday Links #4 2008-06-08 06:32:05 A little late this week but still fresh... Instant Removable Drive Shortcuts with Desk Drive - Nice review of my desktop media shortcut generator. Simply Google - A roundup of every Google search and service out there on one convenient page. Adobe Acrobat.com - An alternative to Google Docs. Much prettier. Wooden Bikes - Handmade bikes made out of wood from all over the world. Whatever Happen Read more:Friday
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